Vodka prices set for 30 percent hike in Russia

Moscow, May 30 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia, a country of vodka drinkers, will increase the minimum price of the drink by around 30 percent this year.

According to a draft resolution prepared by the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation, the retail prices of the most popular vodka brands will rise 28 percent to at least 125 rubles ($4) per 0.5 litres from the current price of 98 rubles, the Kommersant business daily reported.

The Russian alcohol market regulator normally adjusts minimum vodka prices from Jan 1 due to higher excise duties on alcohol.

This year, excise duties will be raised twice, Jan 1 and July 1.

To set the upper boundary of the minimum price, the regulator took into account the interests of all legal alcohol makers, including businesses working in Russia that are unable to distribute their products further afield, a source in the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation told the paper.

Then prime minister Vladimir Putin said in 2009 that large revenues from counterfeit alcohol products were feeding both corruption and crime while inferior alcohol sold by shadow vodka producers was inflicting irreparable damage on the health of Russians.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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